#001 Optimize Podcast Season 2 Preview: Passing and Receiving the Baton
Welcome to The Grand Geeks Newsletter and the second season of the Optimize Podcast with Prof. Barry Dwolatzky in conversation with guests who are prominent in the digital sector.
The second season of the Optimize Podcast is here.
In this newsletter:
> Season preview of the Optimizing Podcast launching 7 September
> Episode 1: In Conversation with …Tshilidzi Marawala, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Johannesburg and Deputy Chair of the Presidential Commission on 4IR
> Opinion Piece “Has COVID-19 fast-tracked 4IR”, written by Barry Dwolatzky and Mark Harris, exclusively for The Grand Geeks community
Hello,
We are so glad you have joined us - welcome to the first edition of the Grand Geeks newsletter, and the exciting launch of Season 2 of the Optimizing Podcast. If you’ve received this newsletter, it’s because you have opted in or been selected to be part of this new community - you are free to unsubscribe at any time.
A little preamble
I believe that one can see history as a relay race. We each receive something – a legacy of some sort – from those that came before us. We then run our race, not only carrying this legacy, but (hopefully) growing and enriching it. Eventually, we are ready to hand it over to the next runners – the next generation. In this analogy, the legacy we receive and ultimately pass on is represented by the baton in a relay race.
In Season 1 of the Optimizing Podcast, I spoke about my own personal race, focussing on the work I have done in the world of computers and digital technology.
I was born in the 1950’s which was the very dawn of the computer age. In the 1970’s, as an electrical engineering student at Wits University in Johannesburg, I began my fulfilling and exciting career working with computers as a researcher, lecturer, software engineer, innovator and entrepreneur. Over the past 40 years, the baton in my hand has grown beyond the wildest expectations of my generation. In its current form the baton holds the promise to become something that is being called “the 4th industrial revolution”. In the hands of the next generation this baton could be the key to humanity’s golden age, or the recipe for disaster and decline. Which it will be, depends on how we hand it over, and the wisdom of the next generation.
The next season
In Season 2 I am joined by a handful of the amazing people I’ve met in the course of my journey. Like me, each of them carries a baton with relevance to Africa’s digital future. Each episode will focus on one of these people. I will again be joined by Kerryn Gammie, a young digital professional at the very start of her career. Kerryn and I will ask each of our guests to discuss 3 questions…
Firstly, who are they and what have they done. Secondly, what have been their most significant discoveries and contributions. And thirdly, to give us a short list of the experiences and lessons that they would like to hand over to Kerryn and her generation.
I know that our second season of Optimizing will be just as interesting and valuable as Season 1. We look forward to have you join us for these exciting new episodes.
Until next time,
Prof Barry Dwolatzky
Episode 1. Tshilidzi Marawala
Overview of the Episode
In this episode, Professor Tshilidzi Marwala speaks about how he took up the baton in life’s relay race. Growing up in Venda in the far north of South Africa, Tshilidzi excelled at school. In his matric year he won the National Science Olympiad and had the opportunity to spend two weeks in London at the International Science festival. This put him on course to become an engineer and a world expert in the field of AI.
In the podcast he shares some of the highlights of his fascinating career. He talks about the advice he would give as he eventually passes on the baton to the next generation of Africa’s digital leaders
Subscribe and listen now: Spotify - iTunes
Brief Bio
Tshilidzi Marwala obtained a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Case Western University in the USA. He obtained his Masters from the University of Pretoria and PhD from Cambridge University in the UK. He worked as post-doctoral researcher at Imperial College, London. On returning to South Africa he worked briefly at the CSIR and South African Breweries before joining Wits University as a professor of Control Engineering. He left Wits to become Dean of Engineering and then Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research at the University of Johannesburg (UJ). He is now VC and Principal at UJ. He is also Deputy Chair of the Presidential Commission on 4IR.
Opinion Piece: Has COVID-19 fast-tracked 4IR
This opinion piece is a long version of an article published on 1st June 2020 in The Daily Maverick. Written by Prof Barry Dwolatzky and Mark Harris, CEO of Altron Nexus, considers some of the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly with respect to digital transformation. They ask whether the much hyped 4th Industrial Revolution may be fast-tracked due to some of the consequences of this international house emergency.
This article is exclusively available on The Grand Geek content portal.
Have a read here.
About Optimizing Podcast
Optimizing is a podcast produced by Professor Barry Dwolatzky (also known as “The Grand Geek") which encourages conversations between those, like Prof Barry, who have shaped Africa's digital economy over the past several decades, and those who will shape its future. The Podcast is co-hosted by Kerryn Gammie, Editing and Logo by Evan Wigdorowitz, with Music and Sound by Callum Kuhl.
The companion site for the podcast is: The Grand Geeks
Subscribe to the Podcast: We invite you to subscribe to the podcast via your podcast player of choice, so you don’t miss an episode.
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